Monday, August 2, 2010

Week 7 Reflection

Week 7 of training is now complete and in the books!  
 
The Ups:
  • I got all my training runs in as scheduled- I haven’t missed any yet!
  • I was especially happy that I stuck with it and got my long(er) mid-week run in- it wasn’t easy since my mom and sister were in town visiting, but I got it done
  • My long run on Saturday (12 miles) felt pretty darn good.  I had some pretty intense knee pain around mile 10, but the rest of my body felt good and I was determined to persevere.  The pain eased up and I finished out strong.
  • The weather on Saturday for that long run was amazing.  Best running weather I’ve had yet I think.  It wasn’t too hot or too sunny or too humid- it felt really great!
  • I felt really proud of myself for getting that Saturday run done first thing in the morning- my brother-in-law got married later in the day (it was a beautiful wedding by the way!) and I was happy that I got my run in before getting started in all the wedding festivities of the day.
  • I got my first interview (from JohnnyRan) completed and posted here!  I’m super excited about this, and I hope you all enjoy reading the insight that the interview brings as much as I did!
 
The Downs:
  • This week was crazy busy.  I loved all the company that we had, but with so much going on it totally drained my energy.  Thank goodness for Monday rest days.
  • I got hit with a nasty headache on Wednesday after I had done my long(er) mid-week run.  It inspired me to write about my history with headaches.  Luckily some Excedrin Tension Headache + Cherry Coke Zero + a little nap after work seemed to do the trick and got rid of it.
  • The Wednesday training runs are getting longer and longer from here on out- it’s not easy to wake up earlier and earlier for those since I do them before work in the morning!  I think a big part of the reason why I ended up with a headache was because I didn’t have time to eat anything at all before I hit the road for 6 miles- the first of which I was still trying to actually wake up!  I’m not sure about the best solution for this- any suggestions?
 
Overall it was a good, but very tiring week.  My mom and sister were visiting Wednesday-Friday, my brother-in-law got married on Saturday, and all of my in-laws were over for the bulk of the day on Sunday- that’s a busy week!  Like I said, it was absolutely wonderful to see everyone and especially wonderful to see my brother-in-law get married, it was just a lot of excitement to pack all into one week!
 
What I’ve accomplished so far:
7 weeks of training
128 training miles
 
What’s left to do:
11 weeks of training
306 training miles
 
This week’s supposed to be a lot less crazy, so hopefully I’ll have a bit more energy!  Oh, and two things:
  • If you have suggestions for my too-early-to-eat-before-I-run problem, please send them my way!
  • If you’re reading this blog and you have your own blog, please let me know about it!  Even if it’s not about running I’d love to add it to my reader :)

3 comments:

  1. probably whatever you do to fuel on your long runs would work in the morning before your run. whether its a gu, some sports beans, or a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. whatever you can convince your stomach to take it will work :). sometimes even just a shake or smoothie is enough energy for a mid-week run.

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  2. I usually eat some raisens before my morning runs (around 100 calories) and that is usually okay. If you can't eat any solid food before running then I agree with the other comment to get some "endurance snacks." I cannot stomach Gu, but I like sports beans and Clif Shot Blocks.

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  3. Hey! I'm so glad you stopped by and introduced yourself...sounds like the training is going well! I always have to get up extra early to eat before I run, especially before a long run. Even if its something small like a nutrigrain bar. Also on my long runs I bring something to eat, usually GU but occassionally for a really long run I'll bring a PB&J and drink lots of water to get it down. It doesn't taste great during the run but it keeps me going.

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